PATIENCE IMPLIES SUFFERING!

PATIENCE IMPLIES SUFFERING!

(This is a “classic” devotion worthy of another look.)

Rom 5:1-5

5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Did you know that the word “patience” does not appear in the Old Testament but we have "patiently" in Ps 40:1 as the translation of qawah, "to wait," "to expect," which word frequently expresses the idea, especially that of waiting on God; in Ps 37:7, "patiently" ("wait patiently") is the translation of qul, one of the meanings of which is "to wait" or "to hope for" or "to expect" (of Job 35:14); "patient" occurs (Eccl 7:8) as the translation of 'erekh ruach, "long of spirit," (from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia).

Patience necessarily implies that there is some kind of suffering. We might say that there is no need to scratch where there is no itch! There is no need for patience where there is no tribulation. Tribulation worketh patience, actually PRODUCES patience, necessarily. (Rom 5:3)

I am a bit of an expert at IMPATIENCE and I’m not really proud of that. I know what it feels like to wait for something that I would prefer to happen immediately. Patience, it seems, is the LEARNED ability to know that God is at work and that, at His appointed time, the hoped for event will take place. But patience is only the second step in a process of maturity.

Tribulation gives rise to PATIENCE, coming from a verb which signifies "to keep good under" and might be rendered "endurance." Endurance then produces patience which produces experience (Experience is the idea that I’ve been in this situation before and have learned what to do). Experience produces hope. How many Christians have declared that they never knew the gladness of faith or lively hope till they gained it by tribulation!

Now, HOPE is where we want to be in the process! Hope is that part of us that KNOWS God will bring all things together in a pleasant and workable solution to our problems. Peter says that it is a “lively” hope.

1 Peter 1:3

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Dear Lord, the answer may not come today but I have a lively hope that it will come and that it will be just what you have ordered for my life. Thank you, Lord. AMEN